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Now, premature closure possible in PPF postal scheme

With the Public Provident Fund, recently re-launched as
Ponmagan Podhuvaippu Nidhi, gaining more patronage, the postal
department has relaxed a few norms for the savings scheme.

Soon,
customers have the option of closing the deposit scheme after
completing five years for reasons such as children’s higher education or
expenditure towards medical treatment.

In the last
six months alone, nearly 20,000 PPF accounts have been opened in Chennai
city region. The scheme has nearly 1.21 lakh depositors so far in the
region.

Earlier, the depositor could take loans and
partially withdraw in the seventh year of the scheme. Now, premature
closure of the deposit is allowed. Officials of the postal department
said the scheme, which does not involve any age limit, can also be
opened in the name of children through their guardians. Depositors could
save from Rs.500 to Rs.1.5 lakh in a year for which an interest of 8.7
per cent is provided.

However, the Tamil Nadu circle
has only 1.78 lakh PPF accounts of which a major chunk has been opened
in the Chennai region. Sources said the long-term savings scheme had not
reached the rural and suburban areas. Though the Union government has
decided to recalibrate interest rate of small saving schemes from April
1, depositors may enjoy the same interest rate for saving in PPF.

Govt to monitor 'integrity' of Central government employees

The "integrity"of central government employees will now be under watch.
A confidential circular by the Department of Personnel and Training
(DoPT) has asked all officers of the rank of joint secretaries and above
to rate the integrity of their subordinates.
The move forms part of reforms and making bureaucracy more
accountable and functional. The intergrity report will be part of the
annual confidential appraisal reports (ACARs).The ACAR is designed to adjudge the performance of government
servants every year in the areas of work, conduct, character and
capabilities.
The ratings will be "beyond doubt, doubtful, most doubtful".
The circular has created a flutter within bureaucracy. Many officials told dna that it has not defined the integrity.
It has also asked supervisory officers to maintain a confidential
diary to note the integrity and actions of subordinate staff, and
consult this diary when filing the integrity column in the ACARs.
The filing of ACARs, which starts on March 31, has to be completed by May 23.
"Officers have been asked to make a note in the diary about
instances that raise suspicion about the integrity of a subordinate and
the action taken to verify the truth," said a senior central government
official.
It further says that senior officers till the rank of secretaries
should also note the action taken by supervisors while making
confidential departmental inquiries or referring the matter to the
police for further action.
Though a clause of integrity was incorporated in the ACAR some years
back, reporting officers were not making a clear and categorical
noting.
Now, with clear classification in the columns, they will have to report and rate the integrity of staff, said a DoPT official.
Meanwhile, Union minister of state in-charge of DoPT Dr Jitendra
Singh said that the government will soon devise an institutional
mechanism for the welfare and utilisation of the vast resource pool of
pensioners.
At present, there are more pensioners than serving employees, he
said. Retired employees need to engage themselves and contribute to
government initiatives like educating people to use the accounts opened
under Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya and Kaushal Vikas
Yojana etc as per their interests, he suggested.